A comprehensive vehicle inspection is an important step toward building trust, transparency and loyalty with customers of Klick-Lewis Chevrolet in Palmyra, Pa., said Warren Lewis of Klick-Lewis Chevrolet.

“Having our Auto/Mate DMS deeply integrated with the Xtime Inspect module makes that critical relationship-building step so much easier and more efficient,” Lewis said in a news release. “Our service staff gets to spend their time meeting customers’ needs, instead of moving data around from one system to another.”

Lewis was talking about the news on Monday from Xtime that its Inspect product has integrated with national dealer management system provider Auto/Mate. Xtime said the integration will help dealers increase the strength of customer relationships and bring more lasting customer retention to the service department.

Because of the integration, dealers using Auto/Mate’s DMS will have use of Xtime’s Inspect module, part of what Xtime describes as “the automotive industry's leading cloud-based service management platform.”

Xtime says that with its Inspect products, dealers can increase shop efficiency and revenue and improve customer satisfaction through the use of digital, multi-point inspections, recommended services and online customer approvals.

Sourcing Phase 2 of the Cox Automotive 2018 Service Industry Study, Xtime noted that approximately 70% of consumers who purchased or leased from a dealer did not return for service in the past year. According to Xtime, that indicates that dealers continue finding customer retention a challenge. But according to that study, more than half of consumers said they would be willing to travel farther and pay more for a better service experience. That creates “an opportunity for dealers to continue to grow their share of total service visits,” according to Xtime.

That’s an area that Xtime says its Xtime Inspect product can help dealers address. Through instant communication with dealership chat, parts pricing and availability information, and centralized access to service history and previous recommendations, it can help dealers streamline the vehicle inspection process internally and externally. Also, from technician to parts to advisor, it provides an integrated quote generation process.

Using its existing integration with Xtime Schedule, Auto/Mate dealers will have the ability to import repair orders into Inspect and have access to real-time parts availability, parts on-hand — with bin and source location — descriptions and more.

Xtime vice president and general manager Tracy Fred said industry headwinds continue disrupting service departments and threatening dealership profitability as a whole.

“Xtime knew it was mission critical to invest in new relationships to ensure the benefits of Inspect were available to as many dealers as possible,” Fred said. “Through the Inspect integration with Auto/Mate, more dealers will have the resources they need to provide a consistent customer experience that offers transparency, confidence and trust every step of the way to create lifelong customers.”

“Xtime’s integration with our parts module will allow parts department users to save time and create more accurate parts quotes, as well as communicate pricing and availability throughout the entire dealership,” said Auto/Mate president and chief executive officer Mike Esposito.

“We have designed our Open/Mate program to expedite the integration process from third-party vendors for a low cost, which increases satisfaction for both parties’ dealership customers,” Esposito said.